Tie-up terror of young girl

CROFT BROW: Burglars struck while the girl was alone in the house.

Armed thugs tied up a 13-year-old girl and threatened to cut off her fingers before ransacking the family home.

The schoolgirl, alone in the house on Croft Brow, Hollinwood, endured the terrifying ordeal after two men broke in.by throwing a paving slab through the kitchen door

The girl’s father was at work and her mother out with the couple’s three other children while the 13 year old stayed behind to finish her homework.

The raiders burst in, slapped the terrified girl across the face then dragged her into a bedroom and tied her hands and feet with phone charger and lamp cables.

They brandished a large knife and threatened to kill her unless she told them where her parents kept their cash and gold.

The girl’s father said the burglars, who struck on Wednesday evening, told the girl they would harm her mother when she returned if she didn’t help them. The defenceless teen was then left tied up for 45 minutes as they searched and trashed the house. They eventually ran off empty-handed.

The brave girl managed to free herself and call 999.

Her father said: “My daughter was lying there crying and praying because she thought her mother was going to be hurt. I told her she had been very brave and that I was very proud of her.

“She said she knows they aren’t there but it still feels like they are. She hasn’t had a good sleep since and hasn’t yet gone back to school.”

The stunned father said he is now committed to improving the security of his home and is urging others to follow suit.

Police says the raiders are a black man in his 30s, of medium build and around 6ft tall. He wore a black woolly hat, jeans and gloves, a brown jacket and a scarf over his face.

The other man is white, in his 20s, over 6ft and skinny. He wore a dark woolly hat, a black jacket and was clean shaven.

Detective Inspector Lewis Hughes said: “This was a horrific and traumatising ordeal for the victim. For two grown men to do something like this to a child shows exactly the type of people we are dealing with. They are ruthless and heartless and must be brought to justice as swiftly as possible.”

Call police on 0161-856 9035 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800-555 111 if you have information.